Geometry
by Nina Windia
Summary: After her mother's death, Elsa moves in with her father's family and meets the younger sister she'd spent her whole life hearing about. But the Andersons are from another world; obscenely rich, they live in a pristine penthouse in a glass sky-rise. Anna skips school, smokes, pops pills and is desperately unhappy. Can these two new sisters mutually inspire one another to live?
1. geometry

**A/N- **This is just a quick little AU fic I wanted to get out of my head. Anna and Elsa are younger here. I'm thinking perhaps Anna is fifteen and Elsa seventeen/eighteen.

Whether you get the geometry references will depend upon your level of Frozen nerdery.

* * *

**Geometry**

**by Nina Windia**

* * *

Their father set the last bag down on the cream sofa. "I have to go to work now, so I'll leave the two of you to get acquainted," he said. Behind the gleaming teak kitchen counter, Elsa saw her sister's look of panic. "If you'd just... show Elsa her room, help her get settled in, Anna," he said, askance in his voice. Anna responded by with folded arms, thrusting forward her lower jaw.

"_Fine."_

Stood by the massive windows that covered half of the fish bowl penthouse apartment, Elsa shuffled her notebook under her other arm. She thought that if there awards given out for the most awkward moment ever, most of today would be a top contender.

"I'll be back this evening then. Have fun girls," said their father, false cheer, as he pulled up the door behind him.

And left them alone.

"Fun, he says," Anna quipped, as she strode to the refrigerator, mary-janes flopping, the backs crushed down under her heels. She reached inside for a bottle of sunny delight, cut-off shorts exposing white thigh. She drank straight from the bottle.

From an awkward meeting at the bus station, to an even more awkward car ride, Elsa could still make head nor tail of her sister. She was obscenely rich. She wore a brand name jacket and shoes that would cost a month's rent for her and her mother, and then she trod on the backs. Her earrings were plastic, tacky strawberry shaped clip-ons and her thigh-high stockings had a hole. Her flame hair was tied in two lazy braids and her lipstick was gloss, cherry. She chewed gum and gazed at Elsa like she despised her.

She'd grown up, hearing so much about her sister. And now she couldn't think of a single word to say to her. Elsa gazed out the window, a panoramic landscape of the urban jungle.

_I want to go home, _she thought.

The plastic sunny D bottle, slamming down on the counter brought her attention back. Her sister leant against it, drumming her fingers on the enamel work surface.

"Well, this is awkward," she said.

Elsa didn't say a thing. Her sister sighed.

"I know this must be really weird for you. And it really does suck about your mum and all. But this is pretty weird for me too, y'know?" Anna said, chewing rhythmically.

Elsa's jaw tightened. "Oh I bet. It must be _awful,_" Elsa said, words steeped in sarcasm.

Anna stopped chewing. "Oh yeah? My mum's going fucking crazy about this. That's all I've heard, all month. _I don't want that woman's daughter in my house! _Blah, blah, blah. I'm sick of it. And of course, she and Dad don't think for _one_ second about me. How do you think I feel? All of a sudden, fifteen years in the dark, single child, and oh suddenly, hi honey, you have a sister. If your own fucking parents lie to you, how are you supposed to trust anyone?"

Elsa's attention drifted away. She watched the sky, jet plane chugging across the field of blue, blowing smoke rings.

"Could you show me my room now?" she said.

"Fine."

Elsa followed the backs of Anna's mary-janes, flopping as badly as flip-flops through the apartment. She'd no idea that apartments could be this _huge_.

"Did you know?" Anna asked, as they walked.

"Did I know what?"

"About me. And Dad."

"He used to come over every few months to give Mum her check," Elsa said. At this Anna paused, half-turning.

"_Every few months_?" she said, betrayal between her pinched brow. For the first time since she arrived, Elsa felt sorry for her. Her sister asked, "Do you know if they were... if they were still?"

"I don't know," Elsa said, pausing. "But I don't think so."

"Oh." A bit of relief. Anna continued, leading her down the landing stairs.

"I knew about you, too," Elsa admitted. "Dad talked about you a lot."

She saw Anna shake her head. "Man, I feel like I'm in some kind of TV drama..."

Elsa decided not to tell her about the pictures her mother kept. _See, Elsa, this is your little sister. Isn't she pretty?_

_Why doesn't she live here with us, Mama? _

When they talked about Anna though, her mother would always start to cry.

_Your father wouldn't let me keep her. He would have taken you too, if I'd let him. That's why the checks to keep getting smaller. To punish me. He's a cruel man, Elsa... _

Whereupon her mother would fret, and worry, and weep, until Elsa promised, promised promised she would never leave her. And her mother would embrace her hard, squeezing her so close it hurt.

_Promise me Elsa. Don't leave mummy alone. You're all I have left. _

But, in the end, her mother was the one who left her. Standing by her grave stone, alone, listening to the minister's groaning voice, she'd thought she would never forgive her.

Elsa caught sight of her pale, skinny reflection in the glass window, lank blond ponytail with bangs falling over her face. _I hate this house, _she thought.

"This is your room."

Anna opened a door and took her inside. Elsa wandered in, gazing around. Another fish bowl room. Huge and open-plan. The Anderson family was really into the minimalist look.

She couldn't help but think though: _It feels lonely. _

"I'm supposed to take you to the school office tomorrow to get your paperwork done, too," Anna said. Elsa looked back at her. She was leaning against the door frame fiddling with her plastic heart-shaped locket.

A lump in her throat. "Right."

"Hans always comes to pick me up, so you can hitch a ride with us. He's got an awesome jaguar. It's boss," Anna said.

"Hands?"

"Oh." For the first time, she saw Anna smile. What a change it made. Her eyes lit up like a child's. Her smile was soft honeycomb. "Ha-ns. It's like, Danish or something. He's my boyfriend. We only started going out like a few weeks ago, but he's _so_ dreamy. You've got to meet him."

But Elsa felt distracted. She said, "Your school... what is it like?"

Anna shrugged. "Private academy. Best the money can buy. But it's the same old shit, really." And she asked, "Say, where'd you go to before?"

"I..." she sat down on the four-poster bed. It was very comfortable. "I didn't go to school before, actually."

"Wait, what? You mean, like never?"

"Never," said Elsa.

"So what, you were home-schooled?" Anna was looking at her in curiosity now.

"Well, not exactly. My mum taught me some things. And I read pretty much every book at the library."

"But wouldn't that get her into trouble?"

"It did. She nearly went to prison a couple of times. But she didn't care." _Just stay by mummy's side please Elsa. I couldn't bear it if you abandoned me too. _

"Shit." Anna approached, and sat down heavily on the bed next to her. "I better show you around too, then. Does that mean you can't like... even do maths or anything?"

The small quirk of a smile. Elsa handed Anna her sketchbook. She opened it, and Elsa watched her sister's dawning confusion as she turned page after page of triangles, angles, construction, Elsa's working out in neat little scrawls. "Wait... this is geometry, isn't it? We studied this last term." She flipped another page, to a castle drawn out of immaculately labelled angles. "Do you... enjoy doing this?"

"I do. It's fun."

There was a logic in maths that was lacking in her life. Everything added up. Everything made sense. When she immersed herself in numbers Elsa found a sense of peace she remembered only from when she was very small.

What Anna thought of this was in the baffled shake of her head. She snapped the book shut and tossed it back to Elsa. "You're nuts."

Elsa looked at her long white fingers in silence. The boys from down her road, whenever she ventured out of the flat would yell that at her: _"Hey weirdo! Your mum's nuts! They should lock her away in the loony bin." _

A sound like a slap. She looked up at Anna from under her eyelashes, to see her sister face palming. "Omigod, I didn't mean it like that. This is so bad." Elsa looked at her quizzically. Anna took a deep breath. "Look, I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't worry. I know you didn't mean anything by it," said Elsa distantly.

"Not just about that. Everything. Look, I'm pissed at my dad and I'm taking it out on you. Ever since he told me about you I've been trying to come up with reasons to be mad at you." Like a train pulling out of the station, she began to pick up speed. "But you've done nothing wrong. In reality I'm just mad because he always acts like he's so busy all the time and ignores me and Mum and I used to make excuses for him and- and I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"A little," admitted Elsa.

"Damn, I'm awful..."

Anna's eyes moved back to Elsa's notebook in her lap. "Say, do you think you could teach me sometime?"

"What, geometry?" said Elsa.

"Yeah. Pretty sure it's going to be on the next test, but I didn't understand it at all." A wonky smile. "To be honest, I'm pretty clueless at maths."

"Alright." Elsa opened the book. Anna shuftied up close to her, ankles touching, as Elsa in her quiet calm voice began to explain.


	2. chocolate weetabix

**A/N- **I've decided to expand this into a series of one-shots about the life of Anna and Elsa together. Expect spontaneous updates.

* * *

_chocolate weetabix_

* * *

Elsa had never felt so nervous before in her life. Flushed and feeling sick, she pushed her bangs out of her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror. All her life she'd seen girls wearing school uniforms, and she'd wondered what their lives must be like. Now, seeing herself in the neat blazer and pleated skirt, she felt as though she was looking at someone else.

Even in the extra small size, though, it was baggy on her. And she'd no idea how on earth you were supposed to tie a tie. Her previous attempts only knotted the thing up like a cat's cradle. She looked at the piece of material in her hand. What exactly was the _point_ of a tie, anyway?

The knock at the door startled her out of her skin. Her heart thudded in her chest. "Y-yes?" she said.

"Are you nearly ready yet Elsa?" It was her father's voice.

"Almost..." she said, looking at the knotted silky thing in desperation.

"Well come out and join us when you are. Gerda's got your breakfast ready."

_Gerda? _Who was Gerda? Her stepmother's name was _Idun_.

"Al-alright," she stammered, as she heard her father's footsteps retreating. But a new panic stirred in her heart. She'd yet to meet her stepmother. From what Anna said, she'd been so angry at Elsa moving in with them that she'd jetted off to spend the weekend sulking at some spa hotel place thing called _Rejuvenation Palace. _But late last night she'd heard doors slamming and an unfamiliar woman's voice.

Her hands fumbled the tie, which looked down now through cloudy eyes she saw she'd tied into another series of hopeless knots. A sob tried to force its way from her throat. It wasn't like she wanted to be here, either.

Elsa found herself sinking down into her bed, which she hadn't slept a wink on last night because it was so soft she'd felt like she was trying to sleep on a marshmallow.

_I can't go out there. I just can't, _she thought.

"Elsa?"

She started up. "Anna?"

The door opened without invitation. Anna stood there, her uniform customised with rainbow knee-length socks. Her pleated skirt, which on Elsa came to her knees, she'd rolled up and pinned with bobby pins so it reached mid-thigh. She wore the same, definitely not school standard, crushed down mary-janes, ruby red as Dorothy's. She looked at the mess Elsa had made of tying her tie, and she hid her giggle behind her hand.

"Omigod Elsa. Let me guess: you've never worn a tie before, have you?"

Silently, in humiliation, Elsa shook her head.

"Alright, just leave it to me. I'll show you," said Anna. And all of a sudden her sister was right up in her personal space, brow knotted in concentration as she worked out the mess Elsa had made. She was so close she could feel her warm breath on her neck. "Right, so you tie this bit first like this, right? And then you put this bit over this bit. Then you go through _this_ bit-" she paused, frowning. Elsa's stomach churned uneasily. "That's not right. Okay. So you go through_ this_ bit- wait."

"Um," said Elsa.

"Okay so apparently this is a lot harder doing it this way round..." Anna said, scratching her head. And her eyes darted up from under her lashes. "Are you feeling alright? Your face is all red."

"I'm f-fine," Elsa said.

"Are you s-sure?" Anna replied, grinning. Elsa flushed a deeper red. Whenever she got nervous, it was like she lost control of her vocal cords. Words never came out right. And whenever people teased her for her stammer, it just made it worse.

"Sh-sh-shut-up," she said

"You sh-shut up," Anna said, smiling like it was a game. And Elsa saw red.

"Le-leave-me al-alone!" she yelled, shoving Anna away. "Get- get out!"

Anna's face fell. "Wait, what?" she said.

"I d-don't need you to-" she moved her mouth, but no sound came out. When it did, it came with a rush: "-to ma-make fun of me."

Anna looked shocked. "I wasn't trying to make fun of you... I was just teasing," she said.

"Tha-that's the exact s-same thing," said Elsa. She tried to stop the stammer. But as she knew all too well: the more she thought it about it, the worse it became.

Anna's hand went up to fiddle with her braid. "Geez. You're kind of overreacting."

"I'm n-not overreacting!" Elsa exclaimed.

"Girls?" their father stood in the doorway, looking between the two of them. They fell silent. "Your breakfast is getting cold, you know."

Silently, Elsa brushed past Anna and strode quickly out of the room.

In the breakfast room, the table was set immaculately with a lace white tablecloth and candelabra. Stood by the side with her hands folded across her blouse was an older woman. Elsa stopped dead. Her first thought: that this was her stepmother. And yet that didn't seem right.

"Miss Hall. I didn't know what you like for breakfast, so I cooked a traditional for you and there's continental as well. Or I could do you some toast if you'd prefer."

Elsa stood, flabbergasted. And the woman misunderstood her shock and smiled. "Forgive me. You must be wondering who I am. My name's Gerda. I'm housekeeper for the Andersons."

"Oh. I'm-"

"I know who you are, Miss Hall," Gerda said with a smile. "Please take a seat. What do you want to drink?"

"Um. Anything's fine..." she said

"If you tell her 'anything' Elsa, be warned that she's going to make you tea every time." It was her father. Looking smart in a dark suit, hair combed back, he sat down at the head of the table. He picked up the newspaper set at his place and with a wetted thumb set to perusing it.

"Tea's fine," said Elsa quickly. She relieved to hear the words leave her mouth all in order.

"At last. Someone in this house with good taste," said Gerda with warmth, vanishing into the kitchen.

Safely hidden behind the Daily Mail, Elsa stole a glance in her father's direction. What on earth was supposed to say to him? _They all lied to us_,the frontpage blared. _Bosses exposed as cheats by union. _

When Anna slipped into the seat next to her, she cast her eyes down.

"Did you get all your homework done?" the man behind the paper asked.

"_Whatever," _said Anna.

Elsa stared at the pale parts of her fingernails. In the corner of her eye, she saw Anna scrawling something in a pocket sized notebook.

When Gerda returned, she set down a plate of bacon and eggs and toast in front of her. Their father apparently only drank coffee for breakfast, looking dark and black as tar, which quickly vanished behind the tabloid. Anna had chocolate weetabix.

"I wish I could tempt you with something more healthy, Anna dear," Gerda sighed, as she thumped down her chocolate milkshake.

"Don't care," said Anna, mouth stuffed with weetabix. Gerda shook her head.

Picking up her knife and fork, Elsa stared at the food for a long moment.

"What's wrong honey? Do you not like fried food?" Gerda asked. "That's why I offered you a choice, you know."

Elsa shook her head quickly. "Oh, no, no! It... it looks delicious. Thank you."

She was startled to find a warm hand pressed to her shoulder. "I think I'm going to enjoy having you with us, Miss Hall," Gerda said. "Nice to hear a _thank you_ for once," she said pointedly.

"Mmffthanks-gurrda," Anna said, with a mouth full of cereal.

Gerda made a noise of derision and headed towards the door. Anna looked at Elsa and shrugged, cereal on her cheek. Elsa quickly dropped her eyes to her food and started eating, cutting up her food into tiny bites. It really was delicious.

"Oh, Gerda. I was just looking for you. Have you seen my tylenol? I have the _worst_ headache." A stranger's voice. And Elsa turned in her seat to see a starlet.

Or at least, what she thought was a starlet. The woman wore a mauve bathrobe, her brown hair up in pink hair rollers, her face smeared with some kind of cream she was still in the process of rubbing in. Even then, she was beautiful. She looked like a creature from another world.

Her father put his paper down. "Honey, you're up early," he said.

Elsa saw her completely blank him and stride over to Anna and put her arms around her. She squeezed her tight.

"Geroff, Mum," Anna grumbled against the embrace, still stuffing her face with breakfast. "You're getting cream all over me."

"I take it you're still not talking to me, Idun," said their father.

Idun squeezed Anna tighter. "Anna, please tell your father for me I don't intend to speak to him for a year," she said lightly.

"You're being childish Idun," said their father.

"Anna, please tell your father that though I may be childish, at least I don't have affairs with other women. Or bring their bastard children into my house."

Elsa set down her knife and fork. She'd gone off her breakfast.

Anna shoved her mother off her with her elbow. "Go tell him yourself," she said, shovelling down the rest of her cereal. Without looking at her, she thrust a scrap of paper to Elsa across the table and continued eating.

Elsa picked it up. It was torn from Anna's notebook, written in purple gel pen.

_Sorry, _ it said.


	3. ride

_ride_

* * *

"Didn't I tell you? Sexy. As. Hell," said Anna with a low whistle.

Her boyfriend pulled up the open top jaguar onto the curb. It looked like something that should be in a car show. Long and sleek and red like a rocket, from another age, its cream interior spotless.

"Do you mean the car or your boyfriend?" asked Elsa.

"Heh. Good one," Anna said, clapping her on the arm before she wound her way round to the driver's door where Hans was cutting off the engine. He wore his uniform so well he looked like, instead of a schoolboy, a young businessman. His sideburns made Elsa smile though.

The second he opened his door and stepped out, Anna fell upon him. She threw her arms around his neck and planted a passionate kiss on his lips.

"Something tells me you missed me, Sunbeam," he said, when she pulled away.

"I don't know. What do you think?" she said, kissing him on the tip of his nose.

"I think you're a dork," he said playfully.

"You love me really though."

"You know I do." He swept her into a kiss. Anna dug her fingers into his hair.

Elsa checked her nails, embarrassed. How long did Anna say they'd been going out? A few weeks? She didn't know much about relationships, but she knew that watching this was making her feel the urge to dunk her head in the toilet.

"Say, Sunbeam, is this the sister you were telling me about?" Elsa started up to see Hans looking at her curiously. Anna broke away from him.

"Oh. Right, this is Elsa."

"Hi," Elsa said quickly. She squirmed under his gaze: something like embarrassment.

"Sunbeam, I can see why you never told me about her before," Hans said, with a rising devilish grin. "She's cute."

Elsa felt her face flush redder than the rising sun. And Anna took off one of her mary-janes and started whacking him with it.

"Worst. Boyfriend. Ever," she said.

Hans fended himself off from her shoe assault. "Kidding. I'm kidding," he said through laughter. "I just wanted to see your jealous side."

"Well you got it," Anna said, socking him in the face with the sole of her shoe. "Do you like it now?"

For such a small thing, she had some strength in her. Hans rubbed his red cheek. "I think maybe I do," he said, lowering his voice so that it was almost a suggestion.

"Weirdo!" Anna yelled, hitting him harder. "Elsa, what do you think? Should I dump him?"

Elsa felt so embarrassed it was all she could do to stare at her shoe laces.

"Um..."

"See what you've done now Hans? You're scaring away my new sister." Elsa heard a thump as she hit Hans again. Did she have to be so violent?

"Anna, what are you doing?" Elsa whipped round to see their father on the curb, Anna's bookbag in his hand.

"Oh, Dad." Anna quickly hid her shoe behind her back. "Nothing," she said.

"Mr Anderson," Hans said warmly, striding over to shake his hand. "Good to see you again."

"Likewise," said her father. "I apologise for my daughter's violence. She's always been an... energetic girl."

"Dad..." Anna groaned.

"I wouldn't have her any other way, Mr Anderson," said Hans. Her father made a doubtful noise.

"Well, Gerda's doing a roast on sunday if you'd like to join us for dinner. I'd be interested to hear more about that business venture you mentioned the other day."

"_Dad._" The word was an aggravated stamp of the foot.

"Of course," Hans said eagerly. He was shaking hands her father's hand again.

"Five 'o clock, then?"

"You can count on it," said Hans.

Anna stalked towards her father and snatched the forgotten bookbag from his hands. She grabbed Hans by the crook of the arm.

"Come _on_, Hans."

Hans let himself be led away. "See you sunday, Mr Anderson."

"Drive safe, now. You're looking after both of my daughters today."

Hans raised a hand in salute. "On my honour." He opened the door for her, and hastily Elsa clambered into the cramped back seat, setting her backpack down next to her on the cream leather.

"Hope your first day at school goes well, Elsa," said their father.

"Thanks," she said, without meeting his eyes.

They pulled away, joining the steady flow of city traffic. Anna was quiet. Sat diagonally behind her Elsa thought there was something about that looked tense. Her shoulders looked stiff.

Elsa wished for the hundredth time that she could go home. _I don't belong here. With these people, _she thought.

"What do you think about the ride then, Elsa?" Hans asked, not looking away from the road.

"I'm wondering if everyone who goes to your school is this obscenely rich," she replied.

Hans laughed out loud. "I like your sister," he said to Anna.

"Also, I'm afraid I don't know a lot about cars," Elsa admitted.

"Well you don't need to to appreciate a sexy car like this. It's a Jaguar E-type. 1965."

"It's in good condition for such an old car." Elsa found herself struggling to find something to say.

"A _vintage_ car," he corrected her. "It wasn't always in such good condition. It needed a lot of renovation."

"Did you renovate it?" she asked.

"My older brother did," Hans admitted.

"You have a brother?"

"You could say that," he said. Anna made an amused noise. "Well, alright. I have twelve."

Elsa leant forward, thinking she'd misheard him. "_Twelve_ brothers?" she asked.

"I know, right?" he said. "And they're all older than me."

"You're the baby?"

Hans nodded. "I'm the baby. And boy, do they treat me like I am..." He glanced off the road to Anna. "You alright, Sunbeam? You're quieter than normal."

"Implying I'm normally loud?" Anna said.

"Not implying anything of that sort..." Hans said with a whistle.

"_Idiot_," she said.

Elsa started. She looked at her sister, arms crossed tightly, glaring to the side.

"Anna..." Hans groped blindly for her knee, giving it a squeeze.

She sighed, unfolding her arms. "It's fine. I'm fine." She smiled. It wasn't genuine. "Can we take the motorway?"

"For you, Sunbeam, sure."

The nickname was making Elsa want to throw up. She thought about asking, why S_unbeam_, but stopped herself just in time. _It's probably because she's the 'light of his life.'_

Hans put his foot to the pedal and they flew down the slip road and joined the motorway. A lorry roared past them, deafening in the open top. Anna fiddled with the radio on the chrome dashboard, and the latest hit blared over the top of the din.

Anna raised her voice: "Drive faster."

The sun was rising over the fields, the gentle oranges brightening into brilliant reds: a blaze on the horizon. They were flying down the road.

"Don't slow down," said Anna. She leant over to her side and a second later as she stood Elsa realised she'd clicked off her seatbelt. Elsa gasped, Hans's head snapping to her violently.

"Anna, what do you think you're-" His words were drowned out as another lorry thundered past. Steadying herself on the dashboard, Anna straightened up. A honk blared behind them. Slowly, she let go of the dashboard and stood free, raising her hands above her. Her braids whipped wildly behind her, her eyes closed, head back, a worshipper receiving ecstatic vision.

Elsa couldn't breathe.

Grabbing her by the hand, Hans, violently, yanked her down. Clicking the indicator, he pulled over into the hard shoulder, slamming the car into a sharp stop and stalling.

He grasped both her wrists hard. "What the fuck is wrong with you?" he demanded. "You could have been killed!"

She tore her hands away from him. "Who are you to tell me what to do? You're not my father!" Her eyes were hard and hot: boiling igneous rocks.

"Do you _want _to die?" he demanded.

"Don't you tell me what to do," she said. She opened the car door and got out, slamming it behind her.

"Where do you think you're going now" Hans called, as she stormed forward into the scrub land on the built-up roadside.

"Wherever I _want_," she yelled, marching off.

Hans sighed a deep sigh of aggravation and restarted the car.

"Should..." Elsa said weakly, "shouldn't we go after her?"

"Let her get lost in the middle of nowhere. Maybe it'll teach her a lesson," he said, slamming the car into gear.

"Has she done something like this before?"

"You could say something like that," said Hans, checking his wing mirror.

Elsa looked to the scrubland, but Anna had vanished. Hans pulled out and they drove the rest of the way to school in silence, Hans's manoeuvres terse and sudden.

Elsa couldn't get the image out of her head. The note on the radio stretching on for that one eternal moment. Anna, her flyaway hair in the breeze, raising her arms as though she was flying.

It cut her to the bone.


	4. bad girl

**A/N- **Trigger warning for mentions of suicide.

* * *

_bad girl_

* * *

Elsa sat in the empty classroom, a stack of test papers in front of her. Sunlight streamed in through the large windows. Raising her head wearily she glanced at the clock; it wasn't yet one 'o clock. She looked back down at the test paper, the multiple choice questions blurring into one. _Which is the correct chemical formula for hydrogen? _Elsa crossed a box. She had a ¼ chance of getting it right, didn't she?

Hans had ran out on her as soon as he they pulled up in the car park. He was going to sign Anna in, he said. When she'd tried to call after his retreating back, _what do I do? _the words jammed in her throat.

So she'd turned towards the school alone.

If you could call it a school. In the town where Elsa and her mother had lived, the secondary modern was a random collection buildings in various states of disrepair surrounded by a chain-link fence. Walking with her mother to the supermarket as a child, she'd always held onto her hand tighter as they passed by. To her, the school had always looked like some kind of prison, or zoo. The teenagers that yelled abuse at them and hurled coke cans as they went by seemed little better than wild animals.

In comparison, this school didn't even look like a school. If wasn't for the people hanging outside on the wall in uniform, she would have assumed it was a stately home. Fronted by a gravel circular driveway, roses wrapped round wooden trellises, mermaids lounged in fountain sat in the middle of the turning circle.

She probably would have spent the morning wandering around aimlessly, too shy to ask for help, fighting off tears, if the school secretary hadn't been waiting for her in the entrance hall.

She was dragged through a huge foyer with a glittering chandelier above her head, up the loop of a grand staircase, to the oak-cased school office, where she'd been asked to take a seat. The secretary set her up with her timetable, and proceeded to explain a great deal of things very quickly. For example: she was going to be a member of the Sixth Form, but she was also in a "vertical tutor group," called Brunel, which she'd take registration with.

"Form?" she asked, dizzied.

"Like a house," the secretary explained, and Elsa nodded in understanding, although she didn't understand at all.

There was also something called Enrichment, which sounded like a voluntary after school club, except it wasn't voluntary. Students could score merits for their form and this was a good thing. If you did extra well you received... a postcard? This was supposedly a good thing too. And she might have misheard, but Elsa was sure the secretary said misbehaviour sent you to somewhere called the _waffle_ room. This wasn't such a good thing. The secretary was half way through explaining prefects when Elsa couldn't stand it anymore.

"I'm sorry," she blurted out. "I don't know if you know or not, but this is my first time at a school. Ever."

She was surprised when the secretary smiled at her sympathetically. "We're aware of your situation, Miss Hall. We've had many students over the years who've come to us from home education. What we do is give you some tests to find out your level of ability and fit you into classes accordingly."

'Home education.' That was one way of putting it. Elsa had a horrifying vision of sitting in a class with eleven year olds.

_But what does it matter? _She thought. _There's no way I can fit in here anyway. _

The secretary wrenched her from her depressing thoughts. "I believe you have a sister at this school. Anna Anderson?"

She started. "Yes."

"Then I'm sure Anna will give you a hand and, 'show you the ropes' as they say," the secretary said, chuckling to herself.

Elsa sat in the classroom, glancing back up at the clock. Had it stopped? It didn't seem to have moved since she'd last looked at it.

_My sister? _She thought to herself. _The one I met yesterday? _Anna was no better than a stranger. The only thing that connected them, that they had any reason to interact at all, was because her father couldn't keep it in his pants around his secretarial assistant.

_I spent the last ten years living with Mum in a one-bed flat with a man from the council coming round every week to try and repossess us. When I grew out of my shoes, I cut holes in the fronts. And she, the 'legitimate' heir, hasn't wanted for anything in her life._

_How can I rely on someone like that?_

But to the smiling secretary Elsa had only said, "Okay."

* * *

At lunch time the bell rung and startled Elsa half to death. The school secretary returned and cheerily told her that she was welcome to eat in the refectory and meet some of the other students or go outside if she wished.

So Elsa ate the packed lunch Gerda made for her in the empty classroom, alone.

Outside the window, she watched a group of boys who'd discarded their blazers and were playing football. Elsa ate her sandwich in tiny bites; it was delicious.

Out in the corridor, she could hear a commotion.

"_Miss Anderson_. I've warned you a dozen times about your negligence to your uniform. Am I going to have to put you in isolation yet again?"

Elsa started. Did he say, _Miss Anderson_?

"Negligence? Use smaller words, Mr S. You know I suck at English," she heard Anna say. Elsa stood from her seat and moved closer to the door to hear better.

"As I've told you before Anna- if you only _applied _yourself to your studies-"

The dry clip of her sister's voice: "Weren't you berating me about my _uniform_, teach?"

A second of silence, and the aggravation of the teacher's voice: "I want you to put on your regulation shoes. And for goodness sake, sort out your skirt-"

"What's wrong with my skirt?"

"It's- well-" the teacher paused. Embarrassed, Elsa thought. "-It's too short, Anna. You're going to distract the male students from their work."

"Oh. So that's it," said Anna.

"I'm glad you understand." Relief in the teacher's voice.

"I'm sorry I've been distracting you, Mr Smith. I didn't realise," Anna said sincerely.

"Yes, I'm happy- what? No!" the teacher said, angry and flustered.

"See you later, Mr S. It's been a real laugh."

Footsteps, and Mr Smith's vanishing voice, "A-Anna! Come back here this instant."

When Elsa opened the door, the young teacher was stalking back in the other direction, red faced and embarrassed.

When he was gone, she saw Anna slip stealthfully from a side corridor, peering round. She was laughing to herself.

_Anna_, she tried to call, but she couldn't get the word out. And Anna nipped away down the corridor.

Elsa looked back at the empty classroom and her bookbag and her half eaten sandwich, and she closed the door. She hurried after her sister.

Anna was _fast_. She nipped down one corridor plastered with the faces of the candidates for the student council, and she zipped down another. When Elsa turned one corner, Anna turned another. She was a comet of red hair, vanishing.

Elsa found herself in a very different part of the school than the opulence she'd seen. She was standing in a dimly lit stairwell, with metal stairs that clanged under Anna's feet overhead. For a short while, she listened, and then the noise disappeared.

Elsa climbed the stairwell, running her hand along the rough stone wall. It was calloused and marked with graffiti scratched into the rock.

_CH & DL 4eva  
_

_Mr Roads sucks dick_

One bit of graffiti just read: _I love her. _

Elsa ran her fingers over the stone, feeling the weight and memory of the words etched there. The stairwell was so different from the polished luxury of the rest of the school. Here it was raw, real.

Or maybe it just reminded her of home.

She was baffled when she reached the top of the stairwell, and they led nowhere. Anna couldn't, after all, have just vanished. Then she heard a _snick_ sound, like the sound of a dart in a bullseye. Elsa looked up and saw the trapdoor.

Pulling down the ladder she climbed up and looked around. Inside it was dark, her eyes slowing adjusting. Elsa wrinkled her nose: it smelled like smoke.

_The clock tower, _Elsa realised. This had to be inside the clock tower.

She felt something whizz past her, missing her face by inches. In shock her head snapped round: embedded in the wall were several throwing knives.

"Oh shit, sorry," said Anna. Elsa saw her now, sat up against the wall, lit by the red glow on the tip of her cigarette. "...Elsa?"

Elsa's eyes fixed on the cigarette in her hand, as Anna tapped the ash from it. Anna was smoking.

She's a _bad girl, _she realised.

By her side were a bunch of throwing knives.

"Where did you even get those?" Elsa asked, climbing up off the ladder.

Anna shrugged, like it was nothing. "Got into the confiscation box, ages ago. Found some really interesting stuff in there."

"Like _knives_?"

"Like I said: interesting stuff," said Anna.

Elsa turned her attention to the wall. Her eyes adjusting to the dark now, she saw someone had drawn a chalk outline of a person. A man.

"Out of the way," said Anna.

"Huh?"

"I don't want to send you to the nurse's office on the first day, do I?"

Elsa stood back. _Snick. _

"Bulleye."

The knife hit the outline in the middle of the chest, where the heart would be.

"Do you smoke?" asked Anna, as she took a drag. Elsa shook her head. "Just as well," she said, parting her lips so that when she exhaled, she exhaled a ring of smoke. "It's a dirty habit."

"So why do you smoke?" Elsa said.

"Maybe I'm a dirty person," said Anna. _Snick. _She asked: "Could you get them for me?"

"Them?"

She inclined her head to the knives. Elsa pulled them out of the wall, with a popping sound, and handed them back to Anna. Their hands touched.

"Thanks."

_Snick. _Elsa sat down beside her sister, a foot or two away. "What you did in the car was really crazy," she said.

Anna grinned, like she'd just handed her a compliment. "You think so?"

"Hans was really mad."

"He'll be alright. His face was priceless, wasn't it?" Anna said.

"You like getting a reaction out of him?" It wasn't an accusation: just a question.

"Well it sounds bad when you put it _that_ way." _Snick_. Another shot in the heart. She laughed like a child. "Say," said Anna, "how'd your mum die?

Elsa shifted uncomfortably. What a thing to ask. No lead up: it was like Anna just turned round and put a knife in her chest. "She killed herself."

"Wow. Bogus." Anna learnt towards her and asked with a quiet, morbid curiosity: "How'd she do it?"

She felt the knife twisting. Elsa's fingers dug tightly around her knees. "Hung herself. From the beam in the kitchen. She asked me to go to the shop, and I... when I came b-back, I-" the words shuddered to a stop. She buried her face in her knees.

That night, she'd been taken down to the police station. They'd made her go over it again and again. She walked in, calling for her mother. I'm home. I'm back. She'd walked into the kitchen to put down the shopping bags. They hadn't made it that far; they'd slipped from her hands. The police made her tell it again. Are you sure that's how it happened? But Elsa's words kept slipping away from her. The more she chased them, the more they ran. Speak up, they said.

But what good had words ever done for her?

She didn't speak for a week, after that.

"Elsa, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry."

She felt a warm hand close over her own. The feeling of touch, comfort sent a shock wave through her.

"That was really moronic of me to ask you that. Geez." Her other hand was covering her face. "I keep fucking up, even when I'm not trying. Nothing like that has ever happened to me, so... I'm sorry Elsa."

But Elsa wasn't focusing on her words, only on the warmth of her hand. Nobody had ever held her hand but her mother. Elsa squeezed it back with an intensity akin to need.

"Elsa...?"

Elsa shook her head. She didn't want to say anything.

The sound of shuffling as Anna shuftied up next to her, and then she felt an arm around her waist, Anna pressing her face to her shoulder. Little by little, Elsa relaxed, and let herself be held.

"Can I tell you a secret? When I was little, I always wanted a sister," Anna said.

* * *

**A/N-** If anyone can tell me what I'm paying homage to in the clock tower scene, you will officially win the internet.


	5. what sisters are for

_what sisters are for_

* * *

Elsa laid on her stomach on her big, plush bed, absently working out a few equations in her book. Her eyes rambled towards her clock; it was a little past nine. Outside the huge glass windows it was dark.

Everything was so big here. She wasn't sure she was ever going to get used to it.

Elsa pushed herself up and climbed off over the bed, which sunk like a bog as she waded through it on her knees. She felt thirsty.

The door clicked as she opened it. She peered out, nervously. Nobody else seemed to be around, which was a relief. She pulled her door up behind her and padded down the corridor in the blue cosy pair of slippers she'd found at the foot of her bed. The nightdress, too, was new. When she'd dared to open her wardrobe on her first day here, she'd been astounded to find it full. The clothes were feminine, childish and expensive looking, in pastel shades of blue and pink. A few tops still had their price tags on and the amount of zeros she'd seen appalled her. No top, she thought, should have that amount of zeros. And while she'd picked out a few things she'd needed, when she got dressed in the morning it was invariably her own clothes she went for. They were old and unflattering, a mixture of charity shop bargains and hand-me-downs, but they were hers.

In this house where everything was huge and alien, they made her feel herself again.

As she passed by Anna's bedroom door she heard the canned laughter of an American sitcom show, and Anna's own guffaws of laughter. Down the hall her father's study door stood open. She paused. Her father was bathed in the blue light of the LCD screen, studying intently lines of numbers. He took a sip of coffee, not moving his eyes from the screen. Elsa moved away.

When she passed under the arch into the kitchen, Elsa started. There was a woman in the kitchen.

"Hello Elsa, honey. Want me to whip you up a snack?" asked Gerda, tucking away her cleaning cloth and wiping her hands. When she noticed Elsa's hesitation: "Are you alright sweetie?"

"I thought you were Idun," Elsa confided. She wasn't yet at all ready for another confrontation with her stepmother.

"Ah," said Gerda, as though she completely understood. A hand on Elsa's back, she led her forward to take a seat at the polished granite island counter. "Let me get you some supper. What would you like?"

"I already had pudding after dinner tonight," protested Elsa. They'd had rhubarb and custard and it'd been absolutely mouth-watering.

"Nothing better than one pudding than two," Gerda said with a wink. "I'll get you something chocolate. I'm starting to get the impression you like chocolate. Is that right?" Elsa couldn't help the smile that crept up onto her face. Gerda laughed aloud. "You and Anna are sisters alright, that's for sure."

Gerda whipped up a bowl of chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles and a wafer. Elsa ate it into tiny, savouring bites. As she ate, she watched Gerda moving around the kitchen tidying. She gave off an air that she was very familiar with it.

"How are you getting on with school by the way Elsa?" Gerda asked, her back to her as she wiped down the surfaces.

"It's... different," Elsa said lamely.

"You're still adjusting?"

"I'm still adjusting," Elsa agreed.

"I can imagine it must be a shock."

Elsa nodded. "I just feel like... there are all these rules everyone knows about except me, and no one is bothering to tell me. Today in English class I needed the bathroom, so I stood up and tried to leave, and the teacher got mad at me and said I was supposed to ask for permission. How ridiculous is that?"

Most of the time, she felt as though she didn't have a clue what was going on. In English they were in the middle of reading a book. In chemistry class they were half way through the curriculum on balancing chemical formula. And for whatever reason known to man, she'd walked into biology to find they were supposed to spent the lesson cutting up eyeballs.

"Have you had any lessons you liked yet?" asked Gerda.

"Well..." said Elsa.

"Go on."

"Maths. My teacher said I was very good at it. That they're going to let me sit the A-Level for it." It'd been the first time she'd received praise like that. It'd felt good.

"That's really great Elsa," Gerda said warmly. She was cleaning food that was past its sell-by date from the fridge.

Elsa swallowed down her ice cream. "Can I ask you something Gerda?"

"Questions don't cost a thing, honey."

"How long have you worked for the Andersons?" she asked.

"Oh, a long, long time. I don't rightly want to count the years. When I first started Anna was just a little thing."

"Oh." _Then she probably doesn't know, _Elsa thought. She wanted to ask Gerda:_ did you ever meet my mother?_ But she didn't have the words. Instead she asked, "What does my father do?" Father. A clunky word. The only people who called their fathers, _father_, were girls from old romance novels. Yet she couldn't imagine calling this man_ dad_.

Gerda paused in what she was doing. "You don't know?" she asked.

"I know he has a company," Elsa said. "That's about it."

"Arendelle International," said Gerda. "He's the CEO. You ought to ask him about it, you know. I'm sure he'd be happy you asked."

Elsa bit her lip, poking at her ice cream with her spoon.

"He's been grooming Anna for a position in the company for years. Originally, he intended her to take over as CEO when he retires, but..." she trailed away.

She could have choked on her ice cream. "_Anna_?" Elsa asked. The same Anna who wore her skirts too short, skipped lessons and smoked?

"She's a smart girl. She has the intelligence for it. But... there was a lot of pressure on her." Gerda dropped her voice. "I know how she must seem to you, but you have to understand she's not had it easy the last few years."

"Money can't buy happiness?" Elsa said, one eyebrow raised.

Gerda quirked a grin. "If my years with this family have taught me anything, it's definitely be that."

"What happened to her?" Elsa asked.

"You'll have to talk to Anna. I'd like to tell you, but..."

"I understand." It wasn't worth your job to talk ill of your employers. And Elsa of all people understood how vital a job could be.

She was surprised when Gerda put her hand on her head and playfully mussed up her hair. "You know," she said, "I think you might possibly be the sweetest thing ever Elsa."

Elsa could feel her face turning bright pink. "I..."

"You don't need to say anything. I'm just glad you're here. I think you can help Anna."

"Me?"

"I think a big sister's guidance is just what she needs," said Gerda.

"I- I'm not sure..." How could she help Anna when she couldn't even help herself?

"Just be there for her. And she'll be there for you. That's what sisters are for."

"I... I guess I'll give it a try," said Elsa.

Gerda untied her apron and hung it on the peg. She gave Elsa's shoulder a squeeze. "That's all any of us can do. Turn the light off when you're done, will you?"

"Okay." Gerda picked up her handbag. A minute later, Elsa heard the front door click close.

Elsa ate her ice cream. A big sister? Well, why not.


End file.
